Investigators from the New York State Police violent crimes unit are in Franklin following new leads on the disappearance of a teenager here in 2011.
Nieko Lisi, then 18, left Jasper, New York on September 30, 2011 driving a grey 2004 GMC Canyon. He dropped off a friend in Romulus, Michigan, before heading to Franklin. He was never heard from again after October 1 that year.
New York state police cold case investigator Eric Hurd held a press conference this afternoon at the Franklin Police Station to brief the public on the case and urge anyone with information to come forward.
New leads from cell phone information, analyzed more precisely due to advances in technology, brought the investigators here this week.
“We developed information that led him to a residence on Flintlock Drive in Franklin, and since interviewed residents there and developed good information to help us in this case,” Hurd said.
All trace of Lisi’s cell phone disappeared after 4:08 p.m. on Oct. 1 2011, when it was at the Flintlock Drive residence. Since then there has been no sign of Lisi, 18 at the time of his disappearance, or the truck, license plate New York EGY 7316, he was driving.
The last time anyone spoke to him, or spoke to someone on his phone, was the day of his disappearance.
“On October 1, his grandmother attempted to contact him on his cell phone, and someone answered but she was not sure if it was him or somebody else,” said Hurd. “They said,’I can’t talk right now and I will call you back.'”
Hurd said they have persons of interest but no suspects at this time.
Lisi attended Franklin High School in 2009, according his mother, Monica Button, who spoke with reporters via a FaceTime call. She said that when her son came to Franklin he spent time with a friend and his family on Flintlock Drive.
“I am absolutely suspicious of the friend who he was staying with in Franklin,” Button said. “For four and half years I have just been tortured. He was a fabulous young man who sometime got caught in the wrong crowd but as far as I am concerned he was a typical 18 year old, but a little wild.”
“He did not have permission to be driving the truck he was in, let me put it that way,” she said.
The Lisi family is offering a $2,500 reward. Franklin Police and Crime Stoppers are offering an additional reward of up to $1,000 for information in this case.
Franklin and Lewisburg Police are participating in the investigation.
If you have information on the disappearance of Nieko Lisi, call Crime Stoppers:(615) 794-4000
Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said that Mrs. Button heard rumors that her son may have used drugs and been involved in petty crime.
